Dr. Randall K. O’Bannon last week wrote a brilliant piece that revealed “The Shadowy World of ‘Private Abortion Funds’”. It is must reading. Today we take a look at a laudatory profile of individual heavy-hitters who underwrite Planned Parenthood and who are anything but in the shadows.

I can’t help but be amused when millionaires and billionaires act as if they are the “voice of the people,” especially when they are bankrolling Planned Parenthood, which specializes in eliminating over 332,000 people a year.

But I’m sure Planned Parenthood in Chicago, doesn’t care. According to a profile this week in Chicago Business, “Billionaire philanthropists Helen and Sam Zell” are among an elite circle that pours in major money to an affiliate of the largest abortion provider in the world.

Shia Kappos writes that “Ms. Zell, 69, is spending more of her wealth to underwrite Planned Parenthood. She’s pledged some $600,000 over three years to improve its facility on the Near North Side.”

And, on top of that “She’s given hundreds of thousands more to the Chicago arm of the American Civil Liberties Union, which defends abortion rights. ‘I want to get the most bang for my buck,’ she says.”

The thread that (barely) holds the story together is that big shots like the Zells need to repel the Tea Party, which, if you believe Zell, is single-handedly responsible for the collective rethinking that is going on about the state and federal pipeline to PPFA.

The “safety net,” according to Carole Brite, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood in Chicago, is Zell, Democratic political consultant Laura Tucker, and business attorney Fay Clayton. “We wouldn’t be able to stay in business without them,” Brite says.

The Tuckers, for example, have “given tens of thousands of dollars annually to Planned Parenthood” over years, Kappos writes. “They’ve ‘added zeroes’ as the threats to the organization have increased.” Ms. Tucker also has organized lucrative fundraisers.

For her part, Ms. Clayton and her husband “are giving more to Planned Parenthood these days, including $50,000 to its Aurora facility.” NRL News Today readers may remember that the Aurora mega-clinic is a $7.5 million, 22,000 square foot facility in Aurora, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. News stories that ran while it was being built said the Aurora clinic has a call center where five operators will be hired to handle an expected 15,000 calls a month.

In addition to its massive infusion of state and federal dollars PPFA relies on people like the Zells. National Right to Life relies on the generosity of people like you. If you’d like to make a donation, go to www.nrlc.org/donations.htm.